Soros gives $100 million to Human Rights Watch

If you read this entire article in the New York Times , you begin to understand the wide reach of Mr. Soros' tentacles in putting his money where his ideology is.

George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, plans to announce on Tuesday that he is giving $100 million to Human Rights Watch to expand the organization's work globally.

[...]

Human Rights Watch will use the gift to add about 120 staff members to its team of 300 around the world, expand translation of its reports and open new offices. The intent, said Kenneth Roth, the advocacy group's executive director, is to increase its influence in emerging power centers. The group, which is based in New York, investigates and draws attention to human rights abuses around the world.

Mr. Roth said that South Africa had more sway in Zimbabwe than the United States and other Western powers. Similarly, India, China and Japan are more influential in Sri Lanka. "We need to try to generate pressure on those governments, those emerging powers, now, which means expanding our capacity to deploy our information," Mr. Roth said.

Mr. Soros put it differently. "I'm afraid the United States has lost the moral high ground under the Bush administration, but the principles that Human Rights Watch promotes have not lost their universal applicability," he said. "So to be more effective, I think the organization has to be seen as more international, less an American organization."

HRW is a notorious basher of Israel whose reports on Israeli "oppression" in Gaza have received wide media play. Expect their influence to grow considerably in the international community as a result of this massive gift by Soros.

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky

If you read this entire article in the New York Times , you begin to understand the wide reach of Mr. Soros' tentacles in putting his money where his ideology is.

George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, plans to announce on Tuesday that he is giving $100 million to Human Rights Watch to expand the organization's work globally.

[...]

Human Rights Watch will use the gift to add about 120 staff members to its team of 300 around the world, expand translation of its reports and open new offices. The intent, said Kenneth Roth, the advocacy group's executive director, is to increase its influence in emerging power centers. The group, which is based in New York, investigates and draws attention to human rights abuses around the world.

Mr. Roth said that South Africa had more sway in Zimbabwe than the United States and other Western powers. Similarly, India, China and Japan are more influential in Sri Lanka. "We need to try to generate pressure on those governments, those emerging powers, now, which means expanding our capacity to deploy our information," Mr. Roth said.

Mr. Soros put it differently. "I'm afraid the United States has lost the moral high ground under the Bush administration, but the principles that Human Rights Watch promotes have not lost their universal applicability," he said. "So to be more effective, I think the organization has to be seen as more international, less an American organization."

HRW is a notorious basher of Israel whose reports on Israeli "oppression" in Gaza have received wide media play. Expect their influence to grow considerably in the international community as a result of this massive gift by Soros.